Mouse-proof piano attachment



(No Model.)

G. P. BENT. MOUSE PROOF PIANO ATTACHMENT.

Patented Mar. 31, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE P. BENT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MOUSE-PROOF PIANO ATTACHMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 557,353, dated March31, 1896. Application filed December 30,1895. Serial No. 573,821. (Nomodel.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE P. BENT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Mouse-Proof PianoAttachments, which is fully set forth in the following specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 isa plan view of that portion of the piano to which my attachment isapplied. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the lower portion of my piano,showing the pedals. Fig. is a transverse sectional view of a portion ofthe piano, taken at the line 3 3, Fig. 1. Fig. 4. is also a sectionalview taken at the line at at, Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is sectional view takenat the line 5 5, Fig. 3, looking down, and showing a small portion ofthe piano.

I have experienced great annoyance as a manufacturer of upright pianosfrom the mice getting into the piano through the pedalapertures in thefront of the piano and passing up into the piano and injuring it in manyways. To obviate this difficulty I have attached to the lower part of mypiano certain devices to prevent the mice from reaching the operatingparts of the piano above the pedals and damaging the instrument.

My invention consists of the devices and combination of deviceshereinafter fully described, and made the subject-matter of the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the front piece of the lowerportion of the piano through which the pedal-apertures I B, B and B aremade.

0 is the bottom board of the piano.

D, D, D and D are the pedals. They are attached to the pedal-block E ofthe piano in the usual manner. At each side of the group of pedals, ateach end of the pedal-block E, I attach a block F, which is secured tothe bottom board O of the piano by screws G. Resting on these two blocksF, and secured thereto, there is a metal plate II having its rear edgeturned downward over the pedal-block E, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. Iattach this plate in place by means of screws I, passing through theplate into the blocks F. Between these plates and the block F, I placestrips of leather J, forming an elastic cushion, to

prevent any rattling or noise. The blocks F and the plate H prevent anymice which may pass through the pedal-apertures in the front of thepiano from getting up into the interior of the piano, as pianos areordinarily constructed.

L are the pedal-rods connecting the pedals with the various attachmentsin the piano which they operate. The plate II has apertures M, throughwhich these pedal-rods pass. hen the pedals have only a vertical movement, these pedal-rods would fill their respective apertures in theplate II, and would of themselves prevent the mice from passing throughsaid apertures; but in my Crown piano, in which I have an orchestralattachment as well as a practice-clavier attachment, I have two pedals Dand D which have a lateral movement, and are locked down, or partiallydown, by means of notches N made in the sides of the pedal-apertures Band B In order to admit of this lateral movement, the apertures M in theplates H for their respective pedal-rods must be sufficiently large toadmit of the lateral movement of their respective pedal-rods.

To prevent the mice from passing up through these enlarged apertures Iprovide a plate 0, which is attached to the plate H by a pivotalconnection 1?, on which pivot the plate 0 turns as the pedal-rod ismoved laterally, but always covers the aperture M on each side of thepedal-rod, so as to prevent the mice from passing through the aperture.This plate 0 could be made in any other form, and attached in any way,to cover the aperture 011 each side of the pedal-rod, as will be readilyseen, but I find the construction shown in the drawings to be a simpleand efiicient one.

The plate H may be placed above the pedals in such position that whenthe pedal is in its normal elevated position the pedal itself will bejust below the aperture in the plate through which the pedal-rod passes,and will prevent the mice from passing through that aperture; but in mypiano, in which two of the pedals are made so as to be locked in adepressed position to hold their respective attachments, which theyoperate, in a desired position, it becomes important to have a cover tothe aperture through which their respective pedal-rods pass to preventthe mice from passing through those apertures when the pedals are thusdepressed and locked down as above specified.

I find that this attachment of mine obviates an exceedingly greatannoyance as well as in jury to the piano occasioned by mice gettinginto the piano and gnawing as well as otherwise injuring the operatingparts thereof.

Having fully described my invention what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. In a piano, the blocks F; the plate 11; the

